


A Daughter's Perspective: book 1

by HadesGhostGirl



Series: Avatar but with time travel and more fire [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blind Zuko, Firebender Sokka (Avatar), Gen, Izumi was adopted, Time Travel, izumi is 16, this takes place in the same au as fire and ice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25092778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HadesGhostGirl/pseuds/HadesGhostGirl
Summary: 16 year old Izumi finds herself on an old Fire Navy vessel. Nearly 30 years into her families past, as her own father tracks down her uncle.
Relationships: Iroh & Izumi (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Avatar but with time travel and more fire [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817353
Comments: 71
Kudos: 304





	1. The Girl in the Ship

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this was supposed to be a fun little piece based around the concept of a functional, non-traumatised Izumi meeting her own father at her age during his leadt-functional, most-traumatised. Which, having written that sentence out, doesn't feel like it would've been fun. Anyway, that turned into this which somehow ended up becoming a part of my firebender!sokka au.  
> Oh and I've never seen lok so don't mind any ooc stuff from izumi. She's a teenager here anyway so i suppose that's to be expected...

Izumi blinked. She had walked through a door in the Palace and suddenly she was on a Navy vessel. An older model. But that wasn't what was making Izumi so confused.

Her Great Uncle stood before her. In full Fire Nation regalia. Not that she hadn't seen Uncle dressed in his home colours before. He wore them a lot actually. But usually he wore soft robes. Greens were just as common in his wardrobe as reds were. For as long as she had known him, possibly a long as she had been alive, Izumi had never seen Uncle wearing armour.

Then something else drew her attention. An angry teenager with a shaved head, a high ponytail the only hair still present. And Izumi gasped.

The teenager, her own age from what she could tell, tyrned around. His angry red scar pulling his face less than the scowl marring it. "Who are you?" Zuko yelled. "How did you get on my ship?" He'd adopted an aggressive stance and fire daggers formed in his clenched fists.

Izumi couldn't find words. Time travel must have been involved. Tui what was she going to do? Agni this was bad. The world spun and she collapsed. A gasp of "Papa" left her lips as she hit the metal floor and everything went black.

When she woke up, she was in a dark room. Uncle sat beside her. Izumi, at first, thought she had been dreaming but then she felt the motion of the ship beneath her. "How did I get here?"

"I was hoping you could answer that yourself," Uncle said as her poured a cup of tea. "Would you like some ginseng?"

Slowly, Izumi sat up. She looked at Uncle, nodded and then said "You don't know who I am." It wasn't a question.

"You knew that already," Iroh said, handing her a cup. Izumi gently took the cup and held it between her hands. "But it doesn't seem to make it any less painful for you."

Izumi kept her eyes on the tea. She shook her head slowly. "Uncle I-" she stopped and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"It's okay," Uncle said. "I know enough about my own family to recognise them. Even if they haven't been born yet."

Izumi's gaze shot up. "How did you-"

"You look just like my nephew," Uncle told her. "You have the same fire in your eyes."

Izumi couldn't help the laugh that bubbled in her throat. "I'm adopted."

"Biology is not the only thing that determines how one is perceived," Uncle told her.

Izumi smiled, she sipped her tea. "You tell me that a lot," she said. "Especially when people say my dad isn't my dad." He smile turned sad. She fiddled with the blue beads in her hair. "Papa tells me those people are stupid."

"Those are water tribe decoration," Uncle said, there was a note of pride in his voice and Izumi glanced to him. "I'm glad to see my nephew builds some bridges that my grandfather burned down."

"Uncle?" A gentle voice came from the door.

"Nephew!" Uncle exclaimed and Izumi turned to see her father. He seemed softer. More like the man she knew than the angry teenager he was.

"She's awake." And the softness evaporated. But now Izumi was aware it was there she could see it. That spark of hope and joy that glittered in his eyes so freely in her time was there. Even now.

"I am," Izumi said, her voice perfectly level. Her hands clasped in her lap with regal poise. 

Her father looked at her straight on. The way he does around people he doesn't trust. The way he does when he's hiding his blindness. The way he has never done to her. She knows this version of her father doesn't know her. She knows he has no reason to trust her. She knows all of this but it doesn't make it hurt less.

"Good," Zuko said, not turning away from her. "Uncle it's time for my training session." And he stamped away.

"Don't take his actions to heart," Uncle said, placing a gentle hand on her arm. "He is in a troubled place right now."

"I know," Izumi said, wiping the unshed tears from her eyes. "I take it I shouldn't tell him."

"At the moment my nephew may take the knowledge he has a daughter his own age a little harshly," Uncle explained. "I would not want to see the distress that reaction causes for either of you."

"I thought so."

-

Izumi followed Iroh up to the deck where she stood by his side as Zuko ran through his training. He was doing basic forms. The forms usually taught to children. Izumi suddenly realised when she was. She had known she was in the past but not exactly when. To be quite honest, the ponytail should've given away something. But then again, there was a three year period with that ponytail.

Izumi turned her eyes away from her father. She looked out over the icy ocean surrounding them. It was so familiar yet so... empty. She was used to these waters being full of trading ships. Her gramps would meet her on the docks whenever she visited. Gran Gran used to give her a new bead everytime. She fiddled with one now.

This was the day they met. Her parents.

It was not a good day. Not a day they talked about much. Except when papa made fun of dad for how easy it was to beat him. Dad would laugh and joke that Gran Gran had been extra icy towards him the next time they met because of how much snow Sokka had dragged in. Izumi smiled at the memory.

"I'm going to need more than basic fire bending if I'm going to defeat the Avatar," Zuko growled. As he marched towards Uncle and Izumi.

There was tension there. More than Izumi had ever thought had existed.

-

It was winter in the South Pole and that meant Izumi would very much like to sleep right now. But Zuko wasn't. And Izumi knew what day it was. She didn't like where this was going. She didn't want to be present for it. But something wouldn't let her leave. Her Papa had a telescope up to his good eye.

Izumi didn't need it to see the flare that went up. The flare that her Aunt Katara always said was the beginning of the end of the war.

"The last Airbender," Zuko said to himself, still looking through the telescope. He straightened. "Pretty spry for his old age." Izumi watched the small dot that she knew to be her family bounce down the wreckage of an old Navy ship. Zuko turned to his men. "WAKE MY UNCLE! I've found the Avatar." Izumi stared at her father's scared side, knowing that where she stood he wouldn't be able to see her. She gulped and turned back to the horizon.

This may have been the beginning of the end but it didn't feel like that from where Izumi stood. 

Zuko bent back down to the telescope again and he tracked it across the edge of the ice sheet. "As well as his hiding place." Izumi saw the vague shape of a village that didn't look anything like the Southern Water Tribe she knew. She hoped her Gramps was there, even though she knew he would be out fighting right now. It would just be her dad looking after the village.

Izumi hoped that no one exaggerated when they said the only things wounded in this fight were her dads' pride.


	2. The Avatar Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izumi and Iroh play pai sho as the ship is attacked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> interactions between Iroh and Izumi are so fun to write. All this time the two of them are spending together might cause Zuko to be jealous though

The ship plowed through the ice almost as easily as it had cut through the water. Izumi stood on deck with growing trepidation. She wanted to go to the room that she had been in when she woke. She wanted to hide in the ships kitchen. She didn't want to watch what was about to happen. But she couldn't tear her eyes away from the lone figure standing on the wall. Right in the trajectory of their prow.

"This must not have been a good day for you," Uncle said as he came up beside her.

"I've heard stories," Izumi told him. "I just hope they were telling the truth."

"You want them to be true?" Uncle asked, raising an eyebrow.

Izumi laughed and nodded. "My dads make jokes about this fight," she said, tapping her fingers on the rail in front of her. "My uncle likes to tell stories about how he slammed into papa on a penguin."

They hit the wall then and Izumi's hands tightened on the rail. The hatch swung open, steam hissing in the cold air. Zuko started his walk down. The lone Southern Warrior charged. Izumi watched as her papa kicked her dad into a pile of snow. She gasped out a laugh at his legs sticking up out of the snow.

Then Zuko spoke. "Where are you hiding him?" He demanded, having reached the gathered villagers. He grabbed for Gran Gran and Izumi felt the metal under her hands heating. "He'd be about this age. Master of all elements." Zuko shoved Gran Gran back towards the villagers and sent a warning blast of fire at them. "I know you're hiding him."

"You know," Uncle said, gently listong her hands from the red hot metal. "You never told me your name."

She let him take her hands but kept her gaze on the fight. "My name is Izumi," she said, ad her Dad ended up in the snow again. His war paint had almost entirely come off by now. When the boomerang flew, fire flickering along it's edge, Izumi smiled. "I am the daughter of those two idiots down there who definitely didn't exaggerate this fight."

"Have you ever heard Prince Zuko lie?" Uncle asked. "I hope our lives never rely on his ability to lie. We're almost certainly going to die if that happens."

Izumi laughed. "You'll get through, mostly." She said as the boomerang swung back around and hit Zuko in the back of the head.

"That doesn't fill me with confidence."

-

With Uncle Aang on board, the tension seemed to grow. Izumi really should have expected that. She knew the Avatar was the only thing standing between her papa and what hd thought he wanted. But, and here's the thing Izumi should have realised, the more tense Zuko got the more tense the crew got.

She had met almost everyone on this crew. Most of them were now among her parents guards. A few even started working at the Jasmine Dragon. But these people currently knew a boy that they thought was a royal brat.

"Princess Izumi?" Uncle said, from the doorway to the room she had been set up in. He had started calling her that when it was just the two of them.

"Yes Uncle?" She answered, turning from her meditation easily.

"I was wondering if you would care for a game of pai sho?"

Izumi smiled. Getting to spend this time for Uncle was a good distraction from the stress and fear of her current situation. "I would love to," she told him as she stood up.

The game board was currently located in Uncle's quarters on the ship, so that's where they went. Izumi sat down on one side of the board as Iroh lowered himself on the other. "I assume I taught you to play?"

"Partly," Izumi answered as she pulled out the spring flower tiles. "My uncle taught me how to play as well."

"The Avatar," Iroh said. He then smiled. "I look forward to playing against him some day."

"Papa tried to teach me too," Izumi added, with a smile. "He taught me incorrect things. You were mad at him."

Uncle had lifted a hand to his chest in faux outrage. "My own nephew still does not know how to play!" Izumi laughed. Uncle flipped a coin and the game began.

About halfway through the game, the door opened a touch and a tiny bald head appeared. "Oh," said Aang, seeing them mid game. "You haven't seen my staff have you?"

"Try my nephew's room," Uncle answered. "He keeps many things in there."

"Thanks," Aang called as he closed the door.

"Won't Zuko be angry that you told him that?" Izumi asked as she crested a harmony.

"The Avatar would have found his way to his staff on his own," Uncle answered as he moved a boat tile. "Prince Zuko probably expected him to escape and is waiting there anyway. I only expedited the inevitable."

There was suddenly a lot of commotion up on the deck and Uncle and Izumi looked up from their game. "We should probably go and see what's happening," Izumi said.

"You are probably correct," Uncle responded. They both stood from their game and went up to the deck. As they came to the door, Appa was flying off. "That's-"

"Appa!" Izumi called. "I miss that bison."

"Zuko!" Uncle shouted, louder than Izumi's yell. Izumi looked to where he was running and saw her father hanging off the edge of the ship. She ran to help as well.

They pulled him up and he immediately shouted, "SHOOT THE DOWN!"

"The crew is frozen," Izumi pointed out.

"Fine, I'll do it myself." Zuko took up a position for a long distance blast. Uncle joined him and together they took aim and fired. Izumi went over to help defrost the crew. She wanted no part in shooting down her own family. The next thing she knew, an avalanche had buried the front end of the ship.

Uncle stood up and announced, "Great news for the Fire Lord. The greatest threat to the Fire Nation is just a little kid."

"That kid, Uncle," Zuko said, turning to glare at Iroh as he gestured to the snow and ice. "Just did this. I won't underestimate him again."

"You will," Izumi muttered as she held a small flame up to one of the frozen cre members. No one heard her.


	3. The Agni Kai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> izumi witnesses Zuko's Agni Kai against Zhao.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy this was intense to write.

After digging the ship out, they headed for a Fire Nation dock. Izumi stared up at the sheer sides of the ships around them. "They're so big."

"I think my brother might be compensating for something," Iroh joked as he and Zuko started to walk down to the dock. "Come join us, I'm sure they have tea somewhere on this dock."

"There's no time for a tea break," Zuko growled. "Uncle, I want the repairs made as quickly as possible. I don't want to risk losing his trail."

"You mean the Avatar?" Iroh asked.

"Don't mention his name on these docks!" Zuko whispered urgently. His posture, having turned back towards them, suggested anger but his voice betrayed his fear. "Once word gets out thst he's alive every firebender will be out looking for him-"

Izumi couldn't help the snort she released then.

Zuko's angry, yellow eyes zeroed in on her. "What's so funny?" He growled, from deep in his throat. Her papa never used that tone of voice. Izumi gulped down her mirth.

"Nothing," she muttered. She held the prince's gaze as she continued, focusing her eyes on his undamaged one. "Just that you know that a firebender is travelling with him."

Zuko grumbled. "Every Fire Nation firebender," he snarled. "Will be out looking for him and I don't want anyone getting in the way."

A voice that Izumi didn't recognise spoke up then. "Getting in the way of what," It asked. From the lookd on Uncle and her father's faces, this stranger was not a friend. "Prince Zuko?"

Zuko crossed his arms and glared at the man that walked up to them. "Captain Zhao."

"It's Commander now," Zhao corrected as he turned to Uncle. "And General Iroh, great hero of out Nation." Zhao bowed.

"Retired General," Uncle told him, acknowledging the bow with a nod of his head.

He then turned to Izumi and raised one eyebrow in questioning. "And I don't believe we have met."

To Izumi's surprise, Zuko stepped in front of her. "She's a new crew member," he said, his voice somehow even angry than before. "No one special."

An understanding look dawned on Zhao's face and Izumi thought she was going to throw up. "My mistake," Zhao said, turning slightly. "The Fire Lord's brother and son are welcome guests anytime. What brings you to my harbour?"

Izumi glared at this man. The way he was acting sent slime sliding down her spine. Zhao did not bode well for any of her family. She wondered why she had never heard anything of him?

"Our ship is being repaired," Uncle said, waving a hand at the almost comically small ship nestled amongst the larger vessels.

Zhao raised an eyebrow. "That's quite a bit of damage."

"Yes," Zuko said and Izumi felt her heart sink. Her father's lying abilities were no secret. She knew that something was going to go wrong here. "You wouldn't believe what happened." Izumi half expected his voice to break. There was an uncomfortable pause before Zuko all but yelled "Uncle! Tell Comander Zhao what happened." Smooth.

Uncle looked up at his nephew and then side eyed Zhao. "Yes, I will do that." Oh no. They were as bad as each other. "It was incredible."

"We crashed into an iceberg," Izumi interupted. "Nearly sank us if it wasn't for Prince Zuko's quick thinking."

"Is that so?" Zhao asked, and Izumi thought they were off the hook. "You must regale me with all the thrilling details." And Izumi's heart was in her throat as Zhao bent down to her father's height. "Join me for a drink?"

"Sorry, but we have to go," Zuko rebuffed as he walked past Zhao. Uncle stopped him and Izumi coughed up a smoke ball, a nervous habit she had picked up from her Dad.

"Prince Zuko," Uncle said, his hand on Zuko's shoulder. "Show Commander Zhao your respect. We would be honoured to join you." And then his ulterior motive came to light. "Do you have any Ginseng tea? It's my favourite."

Izumi wstched them walk away and felt the tension tolling off of her father. Zuko, for his part, absolutely leg it get to him. He growled and let his frustration out in blasts of fire towards the ground. Before marching off after Uncle and Zhao. Izumi followed.

-

Izumi stood with Uncle on one side of the room. Zhao and Zuko took the chairs. Three royals, all be it one that was entirely secret and one that had been banished, and a Commander yet they were only provided with two chairs. So much for being guests. This felt mord like an interrogation.

"Come on Uncle," Zuko said, gesturing towards them. "We're leaving."

When Zuko tried to leave, the guards at the door stopped him. A messenger entered and spoke to Zhao. "Commander Zhao, we interrogated the crew as you instructed." There was that smoke cough again. "They confirmed Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody but let him escape."

Without turning to Zuko, Zhao said, "Now remind me, how exactly was your ship damaged?" And as he spoke he got closer to Izumi's father. Before he could get close enough to be of threat, Izumi stepped in front of him. Fire daggers in her hands.

Zuko put his hand on her shoulder. "We've been caught," he whispered to her. For the first time since she had arrived, his good eye was entirely focused on her. "No use fighting it."

And so Zuko explained what happened. Uncle and Izumi stayed quiet. "So a 12 year old boy bested you and your firebenders," Zhao summarised, pacing the small room. "Your more pathetic than I thought."

"I underestimated him once," Zuko snapped, lifting a finger for emphasis. Izumi could see smoke curling around his mouth. Maybe that wasn't just something she got from her dad then. "But it will not happen again."

Izumi almost spoke then but Zhao spoke first. "No it will not," he said, still with his back to Zuko. "Because you will not get a second chance."

This was getting intense. Far more so than the fight between her parents. "Commander Zhao," Zuko said, leaning forward from his seat. "I've been hunting the Avstar for two years and I-"

Fire burst from Zhao's fists in a display of power as he turned around. "AND YOU FAILED!" He yelled. "Capturing the Avatar is too important to leave in a teenagers hands. He's mine now." Zhao moved across the room to stand over Zuko.

Zuko lurched forward out of his seat. Yelling as hd threw himself at Zhao. The guards grabbed him before he got far. Izumi surged forward, but Uncle put a hand on her arm. "Let him fight his own battles," he said, quietly.

"Keep them here," Zhao said as he turned to leave. Zuko kicked the table in a fit of rage.

"More tea please?" Iroh asked as the tea pot bounced across the room.

-

The Agni Kai was a mistake. Izumi knew that much. But if Zuko hadn't challenged Zhao, she probably would've. No one spoke to her father like that.

Izumi stood of to the side to watch the fight and she was tense. There was a reason she had never been told about this Agni Kai. She wasn't sure what that reason was, but she was certain it wasn't good.

Zuko and Zhao knelt in the traditional positions. Uncle spoke to Zuko but he was too far away for her to hear what was being said. Zuko stood and began to turn, throwing the ceremonial cape off his shoulders as he did. Opposite him, Zhao did the same. "This will be over quickly," Zhao said and Izumi clenched her fists. The gong sounded and both Zhao and Zuko took up fighting stances.

Zuko's blasts were easily dodged by Zhao. The last he deflected with a move that almost looked like earthbending. Everything Zuko threw at Zhao was blocked or dodge as the older firebender pushed him back. "Break his root!" Uncle yelled. But Zhao knocked Zuko to the ground. He leapt through the flames yelling and Izumi looked away.

Zuko yelled and Izumi's eyes snapped back to him as he spun on his hands, the movement dispersed Zhao's fire. Whilst spinning, Zuko kicked Zhao's feet out from under him and landed on his feet. With every step Zuko took, fire leapt towards Zhao who back peddled. Izumi smiled. "He taught mw how to do that," she whispered. "I tormented everyone in the palacd for weeks."

Uncle laughed quietly. "I hope I was not there for that," he said.

"You were in Ba Sing Se."

Zuko kicked a blast of fire at Zhao and knocked him to the ground. The fight was over. "Do it!" Zhao yelled and Zuko blasted fire down ag Zhao. "That's it?" He asked as smoke curled next to his head. "Your father raised a coward."

"Next time you get in my way," Zuko said, as he turned from Zhao. "I promise, I won't hold back."

"Papa!" Izumi yelled, as Zhao stood and went to kick fire at the prince. Uncle was way ahead of her. He dove between them, dispersing the fire and grabbing Zhao by the foot. The general threw the commander to thd ground.

Izumi's eyes watered.

Zuko lunged for Zhao.

Uncle grabbed him. "No Prince Zuko," he said. "Do not taint your victory." Uncle turned towards the floored Commander. "So this is how the great Commander Zhao acts in defeat. Disgraceful. Even in exile, my nephes is more honourable than you. Thanks again for the tea, it was delicious."

With that, they headed back to the, mostly, repaired ship. Izumi cried that night.

When she awoke the following morning, a cup of Jasmine tea sat next to her with a white lotus tile. She smiled and sipped at the still warm tea.


	4. Kyoshi Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The realities of the Fire Nation under her grandfather's rule are starting to come to Izumi.

"He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering," Zuko praised as he study the map they had marked with the Avatar's path scribbled over it.

Izumi looked over his shoulder. "Looks like their lost to me," she said with a shrug.

Zuko looked at her. Properly. With his good eye. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," she touched her finger to the path drawn on the map and followed it. "They're bouncing between islands. I think they're looking for something."

Zuko scowled as he looked down at the map. "Looking for something?" He mused.

Uncle came to look over Zuko's other shoulder, on his blind side. "Hmm perhaps he's looking for an Earthbending master?"

Izumi thought for a moment. She looked down at the map. Aunt Toph wouldn't be joining the group for a while but could they have been looking for an earthbender this early? "Perhaps they are being evasive," Izumi hedged. "Heading for Omashu makes the most sense."

"Why Omashu?" Zuko asked, his voice softer than she had grown to expect from this version of him.

For a moment, Izumi panicked. Her knowledge of what happens during most of this period is hazy at best, wildly inaccurate due to exaggeration at worst. "Isn't the King an earthbender?"

"Oh King Bumi," Uncle exclaimed. "Yes, he is an excellent earthbender."

Zuko rolled the map shut. "Then it's settled. We'll go to Omashu."

-

That afternoon, as they were all preparing to for the trip in a fire nation dock on the coast near Omashu, one of the ships cooks told Zuko where the Avatar was. Izumi had set her self up for meditation when the news reached her.

"Kyoshi?" She asked Uncle as she watched the rhino's march off the ship. 

"Apparently he was trying to ride the elephant koi," Uncle told her.

Izumi nodded. "That sounds like Aang," she said. "When he isn't helping to bring in a new era of peace, he's riding animals."

"He sounds delightful. I only wish I could meet him properly."

"You will."

-

Zuko had set fire to Kyoshi Island. Izumi watched from the ship, horrified. "It just keeps getting worse," she whispered to herself. "Please spirits, let me go home."

Uncle placed his hand on her elbow. "You'll get home, Princess Izumi," he told her. "And maybe this journey will have taught you something."

When they left, following Appa as always, Izumi stayed away from Uncle and Zuko. She didn't want to be anywhere near anyone Fire Nation right now. The depth of anger that brewed against the Fire Nation in her time were stsrting to make sense. She pulled out the white lotus tile and rubbed her thumb over it's engraved surface. A tear tracked down her cheek and landed on the back of her hand. "It's just want to go home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why this fic is getting so sad. It's just happening. If Zuko was less, just less, maybe it wouldn't be so sad.


	5. The Foggy Swamp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> izumi talks to Roku

Izumi left her room nearly 24 hours later and found they were drifting. The shoreline drifted in and out of view through the thick fog. "That's-" she paused. "That's the foggy swamp."

"It is a foggy swamp," Uncle agreed, he was sat with a few members of the crew playing pai sho.

"No," Izumi said. "Not a foggy swamp. The foggy swamp. It's connected to the spirit world. Maybe it can-"

"Help you get home?" Zuko's voice came from behind her. Izumi turned to him. Her heart wad in her throat. She knew how important catching the Avatar was for him. Especially right now. He sighed. "Drop anchor and ready the skiff." He snapped at the nearest crew members.

"Thank you."

"Yeah don't mention it," Zuko grumbled.

-

They took the skiff as close as they could get to the shoreline and then scrambled over roots and damp ground to actually get into the woods. The swamp was dark so Izumi and Zuko both held flames in their hands. "What's so special about this place?" Zuko asked, his single eyebrow scrunched down in a frown.

"I'm not sure of the specifics but this place has a strong connection to the spirit world," Izumi explained. "It supposedly shows you visions. When my dad came here he saw his old girlfriend, who had died, yelling at him for not protecting him."

Zuko's frown depend. "So how is this place supposed to help you get home?"

"Well my uncle saw a vision of someone he hadn't met yet," Izumi explained. "I'm hoping for something like that." She didn't say anything about how the reason Aang saw that was probably because he was the Avatar.

"Right."

A shadow shifted just outside of the light their flames cast. "What was that?" Izumi asked, turning to try and track the movement.

"What was what?"

It moved again. "That." And she took off after the shape.

"Wait!" Zuko called after her. Both flames flickered out as they ran. Izumi darted between trees and leapt over branches. She could hear her father trying to keep up.

Suddenly, she stopped. Everything stopped There was no movement. No pounding footsteps. No animal noises. "Hello?" She called. She expected an echo. There wasn't one. "Zuko?"

"I'm a relative," a voice said.

Izumi screamed. She stumbled forwards, turning aa she tried to keep her balance. A fire ball sprang to life in her hand but as she saw who was behind her, the fire died. "Roku?" Izumi asked. "How are you here? I thought you could only appear to the Avatar?"

Roku chuckled. "There's a lot of things I can do," he said, turning to face off into the swamp. "Usually, you are correct, I can only appear to the Avatar. But sometimes, a very specific person is in need of my guiding hand and they happen to be in one of a very few places."

Izumi scowled. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe not," Roku agreed. "But family comes before self."

"Family?" Izumi asked, she squinted at Roku, who still looked off into the swamp. He seemed to be watching something. 

"Exactly." Roku shifted slightly as he turned, still watching something in the distance. "You are my family, Izumi. Your father never shared that fact. He thought Aang would tease him."

"Oh when I get back I'm telling everyone," Izumi promised. Then she froze. "I can get back, can't I?"

Roku turned to her then. The glow around him lit the trees creating odd, moving shadows. "Yes." His eyes were as blue as the rest of him but Izumi thought she could see the glint of gold there. "After the comet."

Izumi gaped at him. "I have to survive the war on my own?" She demanded. "I'm just a teenager, I can't do that."

"Your parents did," Roku reminded her. "They are the oldest of the group."

"That's different, they had each other."

"Not in the beginning," Roku told her as he faded. There was absolute silence for a moment. No sound reached Izumi as she thought about how difficult this was going to be. But then a shout echoed through the trees

"MOM!" 

Zuko's voice. Loud and pained. Izumi spun around. Why had she left Zuko alone? Where was he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roku is so difficult to write. I don't know if any of his bits are even in character. Also I'm sorry for putting Zuko through even more pain


	6. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izumi and Zuko head back to the ship.

"Zuko!" Izumi called out into the fog. There was no answer. She started to run in the direction she had heard him yelling from. Vines and branches pulled at her clothes as she sprinted over uneven ground. "Zuko!" She called again.

A root caught on the point at the toe of her boot and she fell. Her glasses went flying off into the swamp. "Great," she grumbled as she pushed herself up. Her vision was blurred, but no worse than the condensation had been on the glass. "I don't even know if I'll be able to get replacements of those." She fumbled around on the ground for a moment, trying to find them, when Zuko appeared from the mist. He was holding her glasses. Miraculously, the glass was intake but one of the arms had snapped off.

"These are yours," he said, very quiet. Izumi was very worried.

"They are," she agreed, taking her damaged glasses and using firebending to weld the broken arm onto the frame. "Are you okay?"

"No," he snapped, pushing past her. "Did you find out what you needed?"

Izumi watched her father carefully. She knew some of the story with her grandmother, how she disappeared and how much that effected Zuko. She also had gotten to know this version of her dad somewhat in the few weeks she had been on his ship. So she didn't push. "Yes."

"Then let's get back to the ship."

-

Getting back to the ship was easier said than done. They'd both ran off into the swamp in different directions and now had no idea where the skiff was. Zuko held a flame high and scowled deeper than usual. Izumi stopped. She looked up. "Can you feel that?"

"What?" Zuko asked as he turned back towards her. Keeping his left side away.

"The sun. It's setting." Izumi took a deep breath. She let it out with a little puff of smoke. "The ocean is in the west so we could just try going west."

Zuko lowered his fire. "I don't see another option," he admitted. "I don't want to stay in this swamp overnight." He tensed in further at the mere thought. "We don't know how far north or south we've drifted."

"If we find the ocean we can find the skiff and get back to the ship," Izumi said as she started walking in the direction she could feel the sun's power in. Zuko followed. He remind quiet as they trudged through the murky fog. It wasn't the quiet she knew from her father in her own time. It was an angry, strained silence. The kind of silence that allowed fear to seep into your bones.

Eventually, Izumi heard the familiar sounds of the ocean. Zuko's gaze snapped towards her and then away. "I take it you hear that too?" She asked.

"Yes," he said, barely audible. "The ocean."

They emerged from the tree line and Zuko seemed to relax at the sight of the ocean. The way he did whenever they were out by the sea. Izumi had to remind herself that this teenager before her wasn't her father. Not yet. He didn't know her and so anything she did to comfort him would be seen as a stranger pointing out his weakness. The skiff was just down the shore from where they were. "Zuko, I-"

"Don't," he interupted, as they both climber aboard the skiff. "Just don't."

The journey back to the ship was as quiet as the trek through the swamp. Izumi felt helpless.

-

The next day they followed a tip that the Avatar had caused a riot and escape from an earthbender prison rig. Zuko insisted they visit.


	7. Capture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iroh is captured and Ozumi is kept in the dark

Izumi followed Zuko as he marched off to find Uncle. They had docked for the night somewhere north of the foggy swamp, not far from the foot of a mountain range. "Uncle!" He yelled, stomping through the trees. "Where are you? It's time to leave!"

"Pa-rince Zuko," Izumi said. "Maybe we should give your Uncle some privacy?" Unlike her father, Izumi had noticed the clothes hanging from the trees.

"Uncle Iroh!" He yelled again as he continued, clearly ignoring Izumi. Whatever Zuko had seen in the swamp had made him even colder towards her.

"Over here," Uncle called back. Izumi snorted as she saw him lounging in a hot spring. The water was clearly very hot as, even standing as far from it as she was, her glasses had fogged. 

"Uncle?" Zuko asked, his voice breaking as he saw the man. "We need to move on. We're closing in on the Avatar's trail and I don't want to lose him."

"You like tired, Prince Zuko," Uncle said, stretching his arms out wide. "Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your troubles?"

Zuko glared at Uncle. "My troubles cannot be soaked away," he growled. He clenched his fists and angrily punched downwards, jets of barely controlled fire following the motion. "It's time to go!

"You should take your teachers advice and relax a little," Uncle told him. "The temperatures just right, I heated it myself." And Uncle blew smoke from his nostrils causing the water of the hot springs to billow steam.

Izumi laughed. Zuko's glare switched to her.

He batted the steam away, trying to make it dissipate. "Enough, we need to leave now," he said. "Get out of the water."

Uncle sighed and began to rise. "Very well," he said as he stood to stretch.

Zuko lifted a hand to block his own eyes and, seemingly without thinking, covered Izumi's with the other. Izumi laughed again.

"On second thought," Zuko said, his hands still blocking Uncle from sight. "Why don't you take another few minutes? Be back at the ship in half an hour or we're leaving without you." With his hands still covering both of their eyes he lead them backwards, into the treeline.

Izumi grinned and pulled her glasses off as soon as Zuko removed his hand. She scrubbed at them with the edge of her tunic. "You know that he's not going to be back in half an hour right?"

Zuko grumbled loudly and marched all the way back to the ship.

-

Izumi woke up the next day to an almost empty ship. The helmsman, a few guards and the cook were the only crew on board. "Where is everyone?" She asked, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. She hadn't put her glasses on yet so she couldn't quite tell who it was she had asked. Well, the identical white masks that all Fire Nation troops wore didn't help with that.

"General Iroh has been kidnapped," said the guard. "Prince Zuko has taken an advanced guard to try and rescue him."

"What?" Izumi yelled, that tell tale angry smoke drifting from the corners of her mouth. "Why did no one wake me?"

"Prince Zuko insisted you be left to sleep."

"Of course he did," she grumbled. "Doesn't even know who i am and still trying to ground me."

-

When Zuko returned, with Uncle in tow, he yelled at the helmsman to get them moving. They'd lost too much time already.

Izumi followed Uncle into the upper decks, where his room was located, and asked him "Are you okay?"

Uncle smiled at her. "I can only say I have been better," he told her. "But I did meet some very interesting people."

Izumi smiled back. "I'm glad," she said. "Life would be so much worse if we only met bland people."

"Exactly my niece," Uncle said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to go put some clothes on."

"Of course."


	8. The Blockade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izumi is beginning to think her papa has a death wish.

"WHY ARE WE RUNNING A BLOCKADE?" Izumi yelled when she came up on deck.

"Prince Zuko is following the Avatar into Fire Nation waters," said one of the soldiers.

"Of course he is," Izumi said, pushing her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Where is he?"

"He's manning the catapult."

Izumi could feel a vein in her temple throbbing. When she got home she was going to give her father a piece of her mind. "How does Uncle cope with him?" Sje muttered.

-

"What in Agni, Tui and La's names are we doing?" Izumi demanded when she found her father by the telescope.

Zuko snorted smoke from his nose. "Finding the Avatar," Zuko growled.

Izumi growled right back. "Why are you risking arrest for this?"

Zuko's face tightened. "What's he doing, Uncle?" He asked. "Why didn't Commander Zhao arrest me?"

"Because he wants to follow you."

"He wants to follow you so he can capture the Avatar and then arrest you!" Izumi yelled. "This is madness. You're mad." She knew her father hadn't been arrested. Well, not until he was already in a prison anyway. But that didn't make the prospect of him being arrested for treason now any less terrifying. "Spirits, why am I here?" 

"If Zhao wants yo follow our smoke trail," Zuko said, apparently ignoring Izumi. Again. "Then that's exactly what I'll let him do."

Izumi threw her hands into the air. "I am not dealing with this!" She declared and marched off back to her room.

-

A little while later she heard the sound of the skiff being lowered. Izumi resolutely ignored it. "I am not witnessing my father attempting to kill himself," she grumbled to herself as she settled down to meditate.

"Princess?" Uncle called as he peaked his head through the door. "May I interest you in some calming jasmine tea?"

Izumi kept her back to the door and exhaled slowly. The flames on the candles around her dwindled. "I'm as calm and collected as I could possibly be."

"Oh good," Uncle said. "Then the news that Commander Zhao is no longer following us will be easy for you to hear."

For a moment, the candles stayed calm but then Izumi lost her focus and they flared. "He's not fallen for the smoke trail."

"It would seem not," Uncle agreed. "I came to you to say we have altered our course to follow Zhao's ship. But I also wanted to enquire after your well being."

Izumi took a deep breath. The candles flames winked out simultaneously. "I'll take that tea thank you Uncle."

-

When they found Zuko, the skiff was drifting away from the lava spewing from the volcano that had erupted within the temple. He was pulled aboard and they fled Fire Nation waters as quickly as they could. Izumi avoided her father as much as she could.


	9. The Pirates

Izumi and Zuko were practicing firebending on deck. Zuko yelled and scowled through the whole thing and Izumi wondered how he kept up that level of anger. Zuko launched a blast at her and she shifted her feet across the deck the way her aunt Toph taught her and dispersed the fire. She prepared to send her own blast when the ship suddenly turned and both her and her papa were sent smacking into the side.

Zuko gripped the bar and said "Someone's changing our course." With that he marched up to the helm. Izumi followed, at a slower pace. "What is the meaning of this mutiny?" He demanded of the helmsman. "No one told you to change our course!"

"Actually," Uncle said from where he sat at the Pai Sho table. "Someone did. I assure you it is a matter of upmost importance, Prince Zuko." He lifted a hand to his chin as he studied the board.

"Is it something to do with the Avatar?" Zuko demanded as he stepped towards uncle.

"Even more urgent," Uncle said as he lifted a hand to his head. "It seems I have lost my lotus tile." He slid a flower piece across the board.

"Lotus tile?" Izumi asked. "But you gave-"

"Yes, my lotus tile," Uncle interupted, giving Izumi a look. "Most people think the lotus tile insignificant. But is essential for the unusual strategy that I employ."

Zuko clenched his fists. "You've changed our course for a stupid lotus tile?"

"See," Uncle said, leaning across the board towards Zuko. "You like most people, underestimate it's value. Just give me 10 minutes to check the merchants at this port of call. Hopefully, they'll have the lotus tile in stock and I can get on with my life."

Zuko growled and blew fire up towards thd ceiling. Smoke filled the room.

"I'm lucky to have such an understanding nephew," Uncle said and Izumi couldn't help but laugh.

-

Zuko's ship dwarfed all of the merchant vessels in the dock. Izumi thought the huge navy vessel looked a little ridiculous docked up against a tiny little wooden pier. The market was just as small as the ships docked there would suggest but that didn't stop Uncle from purchasing no end of other things. The princess didn't even bother to hide how much she was smiling. This trip reminded her so much of similar trips she would take with her dad and Uncle. The two of them buying so much useless junk that papa would complain about when they arrived back at the Jasmine Dragon.

Izumi stood on Zuko's right, making sure she stayed out of his blind spot, as Uncle complained from his other side. "I've checked all the shops on this pier," he said. "Not a lotus tile in the entire market place."

Zuko, with his arms crossed and the scowl on his face making his eyes match, growled. "Well it's good to know that this trip was a waste of time for everyone!" He yelled as he leant over uncle.

"I don't think it was a waste of time," Izumi said. Zuko turned the full force of his glare on her. She was the same height as him though so he pushed himself up to seem taller.

"Exactly, Li," Uncle said, using the name that Izumi had suggested. She didn't know why, but it didn't seem right to give her real name to her papa. "I always say the only thing better than finding something you're looking for, is finding something you weren't looking for at a great bargain."

And then the guards came past with all of Uncle's purchases. Izumi was certain her father would have slumped forward if he wasn't sticking to his regal posture.

"You bought a tsungi horn?" Zuko asked.

"For music night on the ship," Uncle explained as they followed the procession of guards. "Now if only we had some woodwinds."

"There's still the merchant ships," Izumi pointed out as they were wandering back towards the ships. If Zuko could combustionbend Izumi is positive the glare he sent her way would have killed her.

So rather then following Uncle's purchases back to the ship, Izumi and Zuko (who was acting like a teenager for once) followed Uncle as he wandered around the few ships inviting people in.

"Oh this place looks promising!" Uncle exclaimed as he made his way towards a junk. 

-

Pirates. They were working with pirates now. "I hate pirates," Izumi growled.

"For a second there Princess Izumi," Uncle said, running a hand through his beard. "You sounded just like your father." Izumi crossed her arms and scowled. "You look like him too." She glared down at Uncle. "Such a strong family resemblance."

"Okay," she yelled, throwing her arms in the air. "I get it. I'm behaving like Zuko. I just-" she cut herself off and pinched the bridge of her nose, pushing her glasses up. "I just don't understand why he's so angry and why he'd risk so much for chance that he has to know if false."

"My nephew is a complicated person," Uncle said. "Sometimes I'm not sure what he's thinking. But on this I am certain, Prince Zuko truly believes that capturing the Avatar is his only way home."

"Then I can't stay here."

"You will join your other father?"

"If they'll take me," Izumi agreed, nodding. "I don't know why I'm here but I do know it has something to do with my parents." She straightened her back and turned to Uncle. "Have hope though, Uncle. My papa will work out a better way to get home."

"I have never doubted that."

Izumi held her hands together, one palm flat and the other clanched in a fist, and bowed. "I hope to see you again before I return home." Uncle bowed back.

"I hope so as well, my niece," he told her before pulling her into a hug.

-

Izumi stood on the deck of the junk as the handover was happening.

"Shut your mouth you water tribe peasant!" Zuko yelled.

Sokka talked about how it was bad business sense to swap the Avatar for a scroll and Izumi couldn't help but think that her dads were both way too smart to be this dumb.

"How do they end up in these situations?" She muttered to herself.

"Keep the scroll," the pirate captain told her papa. "We can buy a hundred with the reward we can get for tgd kid."

Which, of course, was what started the fight. Smoke bombs and dust filled the air and Izumi through herself into the fight.

Izumi launched herself over the side of the ship and landed on the sandy shore of the riverside. She pulled out her sword, a weapon forged to Fire Nation standards but embeleshed with blue, and charged into the combat. She blocked the pirate captain's blade when it came down towards Zuko.

During the mayhem, she ended up fighting Fire Nation soldiers instead of pirates. The soldiers and guards she had traveled with for the past month turned their weapons on her seemingly without realising.

Izumi stumbled out of the smoke and was about to charge back into the fight when her dad crawled into her legs. For a moment they stared at each other and then Aang bounded out of the cloud and yelled at them to run. She didn't even think as she pulled Sokka to his feet and sprinted with him and Aang towards the junk.

With waterbending and a bison whistle they escaped and suddenly Izumi realised what she had just done. "Spirits that was insane!" She said, catching the edge of Appa's saddle. "Oh wait." She pulled the white lotus tile out of her pocket and yelled "Uncle this is yours!" Before throwing the tile at him. They were gone before she could be sure he had gotten it.


End file.
